Visual impairment simulator app

[kestrell]

This is pretty damn awsome, although I'm a little disappointed that it doesn't throw in the occasional random hallucination like I use to experience, because having black dogs, little brown twisty gnomy people, and floating trees at the edge of your vision will really keep you alert.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/visionsim-by-braille-institute/id525114829?mt=8

Comments

[fabrisse]

My migraines sometimes give me the little black mice running by my peripheral vision. Fun times!

[kestrell]

Do you ever do the thing where the sudden movement on the edge of your vision makes you jump or flinch, and then you look around to see if anyone saw you behaving as if you were on drugs? It's useful if you can make that work for you by scaring off the normal but nosey people.

[fabrisse]

Yep, I've flinched from what are to others invisi-mice. I'll have to see if I can turn it into a tool.

[alexxkay]

I tried it out. Cool and scary!

Several of the simulated impairments do list "Hallucinatory Images" as a symptom, and if you click on that, it gives you a little description, including mentioning Charles Bonnet Syndrome. Sadly, it doesn't seem to actually simulate that part.

[jesse_the_k]

Oh! The hallucinations! Also the eye-corner-mafiosi. I'm actually scared to d/l that simulator.

[kallistii]

I'm just downloading it now for my Android phone...this will hopefully give me an idea of what things will be like as my macular degeneration gets worse. Thanks!

[kestrell]

I'm sorry I just found this reply, and I am sorry to hear about the macular disentegration. I don't know about this condition specifically, but if I can be of any help, please feel free to ask me. There are tons of resources out there, but it isn't always easy locating them.

[kallistii]

I'm always looking for more info...thanx! I was initially diagnosed a year and a half ago, and told I would be blind in two to 5 years, and told to start taking the Age-Related Eye Disease Study's formulation vitamins. It's not progressed very far, but in low light situations, I have problems seeing things directly in front of me...so doing something like trying to figure out which key is the house key at night when all the lights are out are a bit of a challenge. Basically, the center of your vision in each eye slowly is lost, sort of the opposite of tunnel vision.

Needless to say, it is freaking me out!

But I have been looking at long term things that I can do. I am adept at playing guitar and composing music....and have been told in the past I could probably pursue a career in music. I may also pursue journalism, as I like to write, and have done some work on a college station as an on-air journalist...the fact that I was also producing, writing and editing the stories also helps...I wasn't just a voice on the radio!

[kestrell]

Have you tried using those plastic covers that slip over the body of the key? They come in different shapes so one can learn to distinguish keys in the dark, and it's not even considered a "special" blind person thing, so you can find them anywhere that cuts keys. I'm sure that Amazon sells them also. While totally able bodied people consider Amazon explitive, I can recommend it highly as a resource for anyone with a visual impairment, as the site is very accessible, and their customer support is amazing.
If you use an iPhone, their are tons of apps for people with visual impairments, and the text-to-speech is built right on, so all you have to do is turn it on. I just got an app that is a talking tuner for my guitar, but there are also apps for identifying money, colors, etc.
The unfun thing I would recommend is that you think about starting the process of getting registered with whatever government service that offers services for visually impaired people. I know this is a really difficult step, but once you are registered, it will facilitate the use of many other services. I'm not sure about the Canadian equivalent, but in the U.S., being registered with the Commission of the Blind makes me eligible for free public transportation and also can be used as prooff of impairment for Bookshare.org, which I am almost certain is also available to Canadians. Bookshare is a site which offers free ebooks for anyone with a disability, and a lot of these books are new books. Bookshare also has an iPhone app that lets you read the books on your iPhone, with a text-to-speech program reading them aloud, or with the TTS and the actual page images also.

[kallistii]

I am aiming to get key-covers...I haven't done so yet..due to the usual failure of one of: remembering to do it, having the money, and being in a place to get them all at the same time.

I don't have an iPhone, I have a Samsung Galaxy S 4G, an Android phone...the google voice search is pretty good. I am experimenting with various Android apps as well. I have a plugin for FBreader that does TTS, for example. Soon I will try audio call display...that should be fun, especially when I am on the bus!

In Canada, we have the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, or the CNIB.I just send them a query. I have a meeting with my social assistance worker next week, and I am going to start the process of being put on disability.

As for a tuner...well, here is a bit of trivia about guitar tuning you might not know...on most guitars, a tuner will allow you to put all of the stings at the right pitch for the note, but the entire guitar, when you play chords, will be just slightly out of tune. It is only when the intonation of each string is correctly set up that the whole instrument is in tune with itself. On an electric guitar, the bridge has adjustments to alter the intonation of the string by adjusting it's length from nut to bridge. Acoustic guitar have to be adjusted by a luthier who does that same adjustment with a file and other instruments. Some high-end acoustic guitars do have adjustable bridges. So, doing the relative tuning, the 5th fret thingy, can, with a good ear, put your guitar more in tune than a tuner.

You can test the intonation of your guitar by playing a harmonic over the 12th fret, and then fretting the same string on the 12th fret. If you the two notes are the same, then you have a proper intonation on you guitar.

But then again, you might already know all that!